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KERMIT BLACKWOOD (Lead Writer/Creative Director) Kermit Blackwood graduated from Marlboro College in Vermont, 2000. As an undergraduate science major, he was one recipient of an unrestricted $750,000 MacArthur Foundation grant. He is considered an authority on gallinaceous birds, evolutionary biology, and behavioral ecology; having described an alternative evolutionary pathway of ornamental plumage in Gallinaceous birds, which pushes the boundaries of current understandings of animal mimicry and avian flight. Over the years, he has worked with the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Stockholm Museum of Natural History Ornithology Department. He has also conducted extensive field research in Asia and the Americas on a host of Gallinaceous bird species. Kermit writes natural history essays and historical fiction stories for film and television. He also co-writes and produces musical soundtracks and scores. TRAVIS RUMMEL (Associate Producer) Travis Rummel graduated from Colorado College in 2001 with a degree in International Political Economy. Moving to Telluride to pursue white water rafting and fly fishing after college, he began working on documentary films focusing on nature. Travis Rummel’s production company FeltSoul Media, co-owned with Ben Knight, has produced an award winning feature and several award winning shorts. The Hatch, a short documentary film on the annual stone-fly hatch that engulfs the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River, tells the story of what used to be a secret fishing spot closely guarded by a few locals. However, dire threats to this pristine river prompted Felt Soul to raise awareness of this critical conservation issue through the production of this film. It won Best Documentary, Gotham Film Festival, and placed as a finalist at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival, Banff Mountain Film Festival, and Taos Mountain Film Festival (2005/2006). Running Down the Man, another short documentary film, chronicles the quirky activity of fly- fishing for Rooster Fish from the beaches of Baja Sur, Mexico. It won Telluride Mountain Film Festival People’s Choice Best Film, and was a finalist in Taos Mountain Film Festival, Durango Independent Film Festival, and Boulder International Film Festival Finalist (2006/2007). HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_025208